Apologies issued after residents caught off guard by bollards decision

Some Mid Canterbury residents were caught off guard by a decision that was welcomed by Ashburton councillors as a compromise.

Hakatere Huts residents who were part of a working group focusing on issues at the Upper Hakatere reserve in Mid Canterbury were shocked to find a decision had been made.

The task force was formed after residents protested the closure of the Upper Hakatere reserve to camping and the installation of charging stations in February 2023.

Residents were shocked to learn that the council had recently made a decision on a recommendation they never accepted.

Following questions from Local Democracy Reporting, Ashburton District Council chief executive Hamish Riach has apologised, accepting a report to the council “contained an inaccuracy”.

“He said the task force had come to a recommended position on the boundary markers and the campsite in the upper Hakatere reserve and I now know that is not true,” Riach said.

“The working group has so far not reached a consensus.

“Given that the council’s decision was based on an inaccurate report, we have decided to ask the working group to meet again and the results of that meeting will be reported back to councillors at a meeting in August.

“This will allow the board to reconsider the current decision with full and accurate knowledge of the task force’s position.” »

The municipality erected the bollards blocking vehicle access from the grassy area in February 2023.

Residents filed a petition earlier this year calling for the terminals to be removed and the area restored as a campsite.

A working group, comprising councillors Russell Ellis, Tony Todd and Richard Wilson, and Hakatere represented by Gary Clancy TJ Jonker and Sheryl Hendriksen, met to find a solution and then arranged a site visit.

Following those meetings, a recommendation to reposition the markers to improve access to the picnic area but continue to prohibit camping was approved by council last Wednesday.

The Hakatere trio who were part of the task force were stunned to learn the next day that a recommendation had even been tabled by the council.

Clancy said he was stunned to hear a decision had been made, as residents believed the task force would meet again to finalize a proposal.

“We were expecting an invitation to another meeting, so learning of a decision is a bolt from the blue.”

They had verbally committed, as they thought, to holding a follow-up meeting, but instead the process was completed without their knowledge.

“Disappointing and shameful”

“It is very disappointing and shameful how the council reneged on that commitment and made a decision without even having the courtesy to inform us that a decision was being made. »

As for the decision itself, the resolution is not what the majority of residents had hoped for, he said.

The petition, signed by 94 residents, called for the removal of the markers and the restoration of camping in the reserve.

“A repositioning is not a deletion, so we didn’t get anything we asked for.

“Vehicle access to the grass was the main objective.”

The residents’ representatives within the working group were “never mandated to negotiate a compromise”, he clarified.

Following Wednesday’s decision, Ashburton Mayor Neil Brown said the taskforce had fulfilled its role of finding a solution, “which is always better than the alternative of no solution”.

Councilor Phill Hooper agreed it was a “fair compromise”.

Wilson said it was a difficult process, but they knew they had to make a decision and he hoped the community could accept the resolution as “a good outcome.”

LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.